Bear hunting, bait vs. spot and stalk?

[Brutus]

Why then did the BC Provincial Fish, Wildlife, & Habitat Management Branch deem it unlawful ...... 'to hunt bears by placing bait or by using a dead animal or using part of it as bait' .. ?
That makes your point moot .....

You 'hunters' from other provinces where baiting is legal ....... carry on, have fun, do whatever you like to do. I don't consider shooting bears over bait as 'hunting' or 'fair chase' ..... my opinion ........ (smiley face)

I have not ever taken a black bear and I find your post kind of inflammatory.

What? You've never ever harvested fish or animals with then legit methods that are no longer permissible in your jurisdiction??

Examples; fished with a live worm on a hook, shot game fish with archery gear, shot upland birds with your daily limit no longer valid, used an evil treble hook in a Kootney stream, or shot migratory birds with Super evil lead shot??

Get off your high horse with the blah blah blah dancing man. Follow the local laws, while drinking your cool aide in otherwise total silence.

out

 

[hoytcanon]

I have not ever taken a black bear and I find your post very annoying.

What? You've never ever harvested fish or animals with then legit methods that are no longer permissible in your jurisdiction??

Examples; fished with a live worm on a hook, shot game fish with archery gear, shot upland birds with your daily limit no longer valid, used an evil treble hook in a Kootney stream, or shot migratory birds with Super evil lead shot??

Get off your high horse with the blah blah blah dancing man. Follow the laws, while drinking your cool aide in otherwise total silence. And be sure that you are on my ignore list.

out

I'm with you on M&M being judgemental... but I am not with you on your list of analogies... baiting bears is a completely legal, legitimate hunting technique with a long history (it is not new)... some of the things you listed are illegal... not the same thing... I have no problem speaking out against shooting "over limit," or using treble hooks where single barbless are legally required, or fishing with bait in in a "no live bait" zone... etc...

But to judge the legal hunting practices of another group (as M&M is doing here), is short sighted and canabalizing our "pro-hunting body." Counter-productive at best... but closer to foolish.

 

[Brutus]

^Varies by jurisdiction and with a time line. I do not pretend to know every province or territory hunting/fishing regulation, in the past or present, other than steel shot migratory bird.

Cheers

 

[bearkilr]

The reason bear baiting in BC is illegal is political.

And there's little opposition from hunters because it's largely unnecessary. Closing baiting in most other provinces essentially means closing bear hunting, especially in spring.

 

[Brutus]

I don't know where you folks got the idea I was endorsing ILLEGAL activity?? I certainly was not and if you re-read my posts carefully you will see that point of view.

I was merely pointing out that game laws can change. What is a legit practice one day (or a legal tool of harvest one day as one example) may not be a legal practice another day.

End of Story.

 

[Dogleg]

Take those same non-hunting people and ask them what they think of hound hunting, or ATVs, or airplanes or the scope on your rifle and they will disagree with some or all of those too.

 

[Brutus]

Take those same non-hunting people and ask them what they think of hound hunting, or ATVs, or airplanes or the scope on your rifle and they will disagree with some or all of those too.

Truth.

You'll also get tons of silly opinions regarding black rifles, all handguns, tactical shotguns, and 22 rimfire rifles that look "scary" from the same likewise minded people too.

 

[DVXDUDE]

Heres my scenario for bear hunting. I live and hunt in central Ontario where almost all property is privately owned. There are few natural fields. Terrain is hills with moderately dense mixed forest. Deciduous mixed with conifer thickets.

My family owns 500 acres (considered a large tract for this area) which is accessible via one road which abruptly ends at the corner of one lot. IE you drive to the start of one lot and then the rest of the 500 acres you're walking/ATVing. At any time we usually have 2-3 seperate mature bears in our area (their range is larger, but they frequent our property usually every other day). We know this because of trail cams

I spend a considerable amount of time around our property all year, and obviously in the fall we hunt it heavily. I havent "stumbled" across a bear in over a decade. No one has, actually. The only way to find a bear is to bait. You can't see any further then 100m anywhere with the exception of one field in the centre of our property. Visibility is usually in the 30 to 50m range without leaf cover, with leaf cover try 10-15m. Spotting and stalking is an entirely hopeless venture.

Same thing here. We have moose hunted our property for 25 years and only shot one bear (between 11 guys). We would always see tracks but never a bear. I started baiting and its amazing how many bears there are. We still don't see them during moose hunting (still baiting bears then too)

 

[Ardent]

Pretty shameful the most active threads we get in the hunting forum are generally hunters ####ting on each other, and I've been part of it too. One day when hunting is all but gone we'll look back and the microscopic differences in methods will all be forgotten, we'll just wish we had any of it back. We won't remember or care which provinces allowed baiting and whether bears sat on roads in the places that criticized it. We'll all have something in common again whether we were archers, muzzleloaders, long rangers, baiters, or field watchers; that being we used to hunt.

 

[the spank]

Lots of crops? Do tell me where these fields are? I have been hunting big game for 45 years I never witnessed such lands, moreover, there is not one farmer who I know who grows crops to attract deer for the purpose hunting. Farmers prefer to have no deer or very little deer on their property eating or trampling their profit. If there are people conducting such procedures then it is unlawful, unethical and does not show sportsmanship as fair chase. 99.9% of crop is operated for the sole purpose of harvesting a crop, not wildlife.

Therefore, your conclusion that hunting in a crop field is considered baiting is.................

You have never hunted in the east or in the U.S then. Food plots are very common place on farms back east and in the U.S.. Growing corn and flooding it to the ears is common as hell in the U.S too for waterfowl. Is that not baiting? Apparenty not if the flood is drained and the corn harvested afterawrds, thats how they get away with it. It is considered 'normal" agricultural practice there.
And although you may not be "placing" feed in a crop field the waste from harvesting and new growth regeneration is there and attracts the animals to it. Plain and simple.

 

[Longwalker]

I have hunted bears in Saskatchewan without bait for several days of each season for five years in a row without seeing one. I have hunted in good Saskatchewan bear country for more than thirty years and have had the opportunity to shoot only one bear that was a "bonus" while hunting elk, moose or deer. We also have a summer cabin in B.C. I have seen up to 27 bears during three days while there, not even looking for them. Ardent makes a very good point about opportunity and methods that are "acceptable" may vary by region. Also BC does not want to encourage grizzly bears to feed on bait for logical public safety reasons.

The three bears I have taken in my lifetime have all been over bait, two on bait I set out after careful site selection and many trips to scout and maintain the bait supply. One was over a gut pile from an elk shot the day before. I originally didn't believe in baiting bears, but have had to grudgingly concede that it is ethical, interesting, and is about the only way to actually get one in much of the boreal forest of central Canada.

 

[Ardent]

Indeed it's amusing a guy from BC would attack baiting, just shows how out of touch we can be with the other areas outside our own. Methods vary. Places and scenery change. And we're all hunters.

 

[Gatehouse]

Indeed it's amusing a guy from BC would attack baiting, just shows how out of touch we can be with the other areas outside our own. Methods vary. Places and scenery change. And we're all hunters.

It's pretty ironic to hear a BC hunter bash baiting as "cheating" or "not real hunting" when he has had many successful bear hunts, all within 50 yards of the road.

 

[Ardent]

I think he'd have an eye opener hunting bears in the east. I've never done it either but understand it's a totally different ball game, and the same rules don't, and need not apply.

 

[Macarena Man]

Spring bear season is nearly upon us and I am going to do my first bear hunt this year. Not wanting this first foray to be a solo expedition I have spoken to a couple aquaintaces who will set me up on a bait and film the hunt and know a couple others who will help me in a spot and stalk hunt. Which of the two hunt options do you all find more rewarding and or productive? Pros and cons of each? It will be my first hunt for bear and I will be rifle hunting. Thanks all

As others here have mentioned (referring to British Columbia) there are many bears to be seen in the spring season ...... it's not too difficult to spot, stalk, and take a black bear. 'Spot & stalk' hunting for 'book type' bruins (19+") is a much more difficult hunt where I live on Vancouver Island. The large boars are cagey and don't spend a lot of time in the open here. The wind and terrain is a major factor also. Many times your best laid plans /stalks are gone with a swirl of wind. Personally, I like to find a 'bookish' type bruin and concentrate on him for the spring season. I may connect, often not. This type of hunting will sharpen your bush skills, get you out and moving, and give you an idea of where the deer will be in the early season. It's just a nice time of the year to be in the bush.

A friend and I have been somewhat successful with calling black bears ..... initially I was using an elk 'cow call' with the diaphragm pulled tight. We would get some bears coming to take a look .... sometimes.
We were watching a sow with a big boar on the top edge of a cut block. We'd hiked up the hill and had closed the gap to about 70yds. The sow was in the open, but the boar wouldn't clear the bush for a good shot. My buddy let out a loud snort through his nose. The boar swung around and started coming our way. Friend took him quite nicely. Big boar .... 20"

We've tried this tactic many times. It does work very well with a sow/boar situation, and will scare sow/cubs and smaller bears off quite quickly.
I hope that you're season works well for you, and that you were able to get some information from this thread. I've been out looking here for the last two weeks, although there's no snow, haven't seen a bear yet ....... happy trails!
Macarena Man

 

[bearkilr]

As others here have mentioned (referring to British Columbia) there are many bears to be seen in the spring season ...... it's not too difficult to spot, stalk, and take a black bear. 'Spot & stalk' hunting for 'book type' bruins (19+") is a much more difficult hunt where I live on Vancouver Island. The large boars are cagey and don't spend a lot of time in the open here.

Actually, the reason they're hard to find on Van Isle is the fact they don't exist. B&C is 21", not happening on the island.
The real big ones are smart and cagey no matter where and how you hunt them.

 

[striker89]

My main dispute is that you correlate hunting over bait with crop fields........nothing could be further from the truth. If people wish to plant their own private plot or hunt over bait with intent then go for it, it's just not what I call fair chase hunting. You make assumptions that people hunt from their vehicle, again nothing could be further from the truth the way that I hunt. Case in point I prefer people to road hunt, it keeps them away from me when I'm in the bush. As I mention in a prior post, "intent" to hunt over bait is much different than hunting in a crop field, and I'm talking a harvested crop field.

I realize I'm late to this party, but just wanted to throw in my 5 cents.

What is your intent when you set up a stand on a farmers field? You don't intend to harvest them, you intend to use the crops there to attract deer. The farmer may intend to harvest them, but that's his prerogative, not yours. As far as I'm concerned, anybody setting up a tree stand on a farmers crop is intending to use those crops as bait. They've just let the farmer do the difficult part of getting it there.

Furthermore, as a farmer myself there are fields that we put corn in, specifically because we know the deer are usually active in that area, and we want to hunt them in that spot. Obviously the goal is to harvest the crop, but we also intend to hunt the deer that will be attracted to the crops later on in the season. So are we hunting or 'deer shooting?' I personally don't see the difference between hunting a field, and baiting a bear.

 

[rsp1761]

Bear baiting is a ton of work and not as easy as many make it sound. Having said that I gave up on that years ago and now just hunt them on corn fields where the farmers do all of the baiting work for me...

 

[H4831]

When I was a teen ager, growing up on the homestead, we used to butcher cattle.
It was a lot of work.
We would rig up something to hang the carcass from, like a big pole suspended high up between two trees.
It took skill to know just where to place the feed we used to attract the animal to the exact spot, and greater skill yet, to shoot the animal in the exact spot with a 22, to immediately drop it at that right place.
I never realized it before, but after reading many of the posts on here, I see that hey, we were actually hunting!

 

[pounder]

I used to put bait or gut piles out to shoot wolves , I never considered it hunting just shooting.

pounder